The hottest women in Car-Chase Movies....Redux by requests........

About a year ago I ran a post about the hottest women in car chase movies. It was popular and got a lot of good-natured debate going. Recently I had a few requests to re-run it-especially since F&F 7 is coming out-shot around Paul Walker's death and since they killed Gal Gadot and Gina Carano in "F&F" 6,- People have asked me to do it again and I aim to please-so here's my rankings of the hottest women in Muslcecar / Car Chase movies.  # 1. Jennifer Billingsley "White Lightning". With her dark-brown roots showing in her bleach-blonde hair, barefoot in that tight, flowery mini-sundress almost the whole movie, "Shake a Puddin" just oozed sex. When she runs her bare foot up and down his biceps in the front seat of his famous brown LTD and tells Burt Reynolds-"Gator if you want it, just ask." "If you don't that's ok too." I about shit. Burt replies-"What about Roy?" ( Bo Hopkins-her evil moonshiner boyfriend ) She says-"He's not gonna be standing there watching us is he?" "I hope not." Gator says. Later, she has sex with Burt in the river-while Bo Hopkins sleeps in the house up the road. When Burt sets her up for rape so they can escape Big Bear and Sheriif Connors henchman-she doesn't even hold it against him. They kick ass and she drives Burt to a home for unwed mothers for medical attention for his gunshot wounds. She epitomized the southern slut that men die and kill for. Others have tried to do it-Kim Basinger in "No Mercy", Teri Hatcher in "Heaven's Prisoners" and most recently Reese Witherspoon in "Mud"-but none have ever been able to top "Shake a Puddin."  #2. Darlanne Fluegel  "To Live and Die in L.A." This under-rated thriller was directed by William Freidkin ( "The French Connection" "The Exorcist") and starred a young, pre-"CSI" William Peterson as a Secret Service agent after a young Willem Dafoe, who was a master counterfieter that killed Peterson's partner. A classically trained stage actress who'd been wasted in Horror-"Eyes of Laura Mars" and Sci-Fi-"Battlestar Galactica"-she got to show her chops here as Ruth-"Chance's" informant / hooker / girlfriend. And she was naked a lot. When she asks him what would you do if I stopped feeding you information? and he replies "I'd violate your parole and send you back to prison" You know she's going to set him up. And she does. What was great about her performance was she wasn't the cliche' hard-luck girl with a heart of gold. She's a bitch and a whore and she uses men to get what she wants and doesn't care; she knows it and we know it, that makes it unanimous. # 3. Jacqueline Bisset "Bullitt". At 33, in 1977, millions of teenage boys thought she was so smokin hot in bikini panties and a wet-t-shirt that the "Deep" poster outsold everything, inclucing Farrah Fawcett in the red bathing suit that was the 1976 champ. You need to watch "Bullitt" and catch her at 24. The british accent, naked and barefoot under Steve McQueen's wrinkled shirt, offering him breakfast-Like Waynes world-"Schwing!" Only her vomiting after seeing a corpse and reading Steve off for being jaded kept her out of the top spots. # 4. Susan George "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry", "A Small Town in Texas." I upped her ranking because she's in not one, but two cult classics. Three, actually if you count "Mandingo" where her sexy inter-racial love scenes with Boxer Ken Norton got her some Sharon Stone style "Basic Instinct" noteriety for a few years.  "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" actually had a good story about a kidnapping / robbery gone wrong and some good automotive action. She's largely wasted as Peter Fonda and his co-hort make fun of her for most of the film. However she gets honorable mention for spending the whole picture barefoot in hip-hugger jeans and a straining denim halter top. She plays basically the same character-an ignorant slut-as Dan Ackroyd would say- in "A Small Town in Texas". Her football hero boyfriend gets railroaded to prison by the corrupt sheriff on drug charges. So while he's serving time,she of course has no choice but to start sleeping with the sheriff!! Then he comes home, and as they said in Johnny Dangerously-it's Fargin War. Good action and a fight to the finish finale. #5 Isabelle Adjani "The Driver" Adjani is great at playing tortured chanteuses-she stole "Diabolique" from Sharon Stone. As getaway driver Ryan O'Neal's contact and sometime lover-it's her murder that sends him on a path of vengenance and sets up the films excellent final hour. # 6. I'll have to go on the 'net and get her name-but the naked motorcycle rider from "Vanishing Point" has got to be on the list. I loved the '70's. This was before political correctness, and before "PG13" ratings. When I say naked-I don't mean tasteful camera angles, back shots, I mean totally nude and barefoot, full-frontal tit and bush shots and I mean long, lingering shots-not like "Playboy" videos where you think the camera is mounted on an Indy car circling the model!! When Kowalski declines both a joint and sex-she just gets back on the bike and conintues riding! So bad.  #7. Lynda Carter "Bobbi Jo and The Outlaw." She actually made this before she got the "Wonder Woman" gig-but it was released after. It's main attribute is she gets naked a lot. Evangelist turned action star Marjoe Gortner was sexy and menacing as her car-thief boyfriend who kills someone in self-defense, causing them to go on the run. Some decent car-chase action in a Mustang and other cars that Gortner steals. Did I mention that Lynda gets naked a lot?  There's going to be some griping about a few omissions-but I don't care. Sally Field in "Smokey and the Bandit?" Sorry. Can't get a woodie for the "Flying Nun" in a Trans-Am. Jordana Brewster spent all her time in the F&F movies mediating the "Bromance" fights between Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. No sex, and not even a gratuitous bikini scene when they went to Brazil ( Gal Gadot provided that ). The smokin hot Eva Mendes spent about 30 seconds in a bikini in F&F 2, but that doesn't count in my book. Any how let the Ginger vs Mary Ann type debates begin....Mastermind              

Get off this "Brand Loyalty" of "This rules and everything else sucks......You might be pleasantly surprised!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again-If I see one more Dodge Pickup with "Calvin"-( of the Comic strip " Calvin&Hobbes" ) pissing on a Chevy Bow-Tie emblem or a Camaro with a "Friends don't let friends drive Fords" bumper sticker, I'm going to ram the driver with my old Buick. My dad was a Pontiac guy and so am I. Yes,- If I had an unlimited bankroll-I'd have a Ram Air IV Judge or an SD-455 Trans-Am. In reality-I'll probably buy another Disco-era T/A ( '77-79 ) and put Edelbrock heads and other goodies on it that's more in line with my current finances. Or maybe buy a '69-77 Gran Prix or a '71-74 Ventura and play with that. But I'm not limited to Pontiacs. I'd love to have a '67-68 Cougar. I think that's one of the coolest cars Ford ever put out. Or a '71-73 Mustang Mach 1. Buddies of mine had those in high school and I have fond memeories of them both. I'd also love to have a '70 "Vanishing Point" Challenger. I can't afford an original Hemi or 440 car-but I bet I could find a 318 version fairly cheap and swap in a snarling 360 or 360 based 408 stroker!!  I'd like to have a '71-74 AMC Javelin AMX. That body still looks cool even today-there are millions of Jeep Grand Wagonneers in junkyards with 360 V8s-and Edelbrock even offers aluminum heads for them. I'd do one red,white and blue with Minilite wheels and sidepipes like Mark Donohue's Championship car. I also like some imports. I'd love to restore a '70-78 Datsun 240 or 280Z. I'd love to have a '70-76 Porsche 914. A new Subaru WRX will blow the doors off 90% of the Musclecars out there-they do 0-60 in just over 5 seconds and the 1/4 in the high 13s. Ditto for a Nissan 370Z. Like Vin Diesel said to Gal Gadot-in "F&F 4" when she caught him looking under the hood of the bad guys Torino-"You like that car?" "I like a fine body no matter what brand it is."  Were all gearheads and were all fighting the good fight against the government and the EPA that want to crush all cars built before 1981. Which includes a friend's 1958 Ferarri Testa Rossa!!  So open your mind and you may be surprised at your next "Dream Car!" Mastermind  

A clone can save you many thousands....If your reasonable....

There's a finite number of premium musclecars, and even if you have an unlimited bankroll-depending on what you want-often the problem is just finding one for sale at any price. As long as you don't try to re-sell it as an original I don't see a problem with clones, although a lot of purists do. Tell me-how does some guy dressing up a '66 Mustang fastback like a GT350H "diminish" the value of your "real" one? Everyone knows his is a fake, and yours is numbers-matching, and the "Real" Shelby will always be worth more than a fake. Get over yourselves. Pontiac only made 697 1969 Trans-Ams. If some guy wants to take one of the other 113,000 V8 Firebirds built in 1969 and contact Year One and dress it up like a T/A-so he has a cool car for say $25,000 instead of the $100,000 plus that a "Real" '69 T/A would bring what harm is there in that? If a guy spends 15 grand on a Mopar Performance 426 crate Hemi and puts it in a nice '69 383 Coronet 2 dr he paid 8 grand for and paints it like a Super Bee,and has 30K in a Hemi Super Bee clone-does that really diminish the value of a real Hemi Super Bee that's worth 150k?  I have a friend who back in the '80's bought a six-cylinder, 3-speed '69 Camaro for $1,000. He dropped in a mild 350, a Saginaw 4-speed, and bought a "Cowl Induction" hood, some Rally wheels from Wheel Vintiques, and painted it like a Z/28. Total cost-$3,500. Everywhere he went people "oohed" and "aahhed" over his "Z/28". He loved it, and eventually put a snarling Rat motor in it, which people at "Show-n-Shines" derided him for for "Ruining" a classic!! These assholes who insulted a stranger for modifying his own car had no Idea that it wasn't a "Real" Z/28!!! He got many laughs out of that!!  So if you wan to buy a '69 LeMans and fake a "Judge" by all means do it! As long as you don't try to sell it as an original, who cares?  Mastermind    

The history of the Z/28.....

Musclecar Review is featuring Z/28's this month so I thought I'd touch on how the "Z" came into being. In the mid '60's the SCCA had a road racing series called Trans-American Sedan Racing-"Trans-Am" for short that was very popular. Oddly-at the height of the musclecar era-the displacement limit was 5 liters-or 305 cubic inches. The 289 V8 Ford Mustang and 273 V8 Plymouth Barracuda did nicely. Ford won the championship in 1966. When the Camaro was introduced Chevrolet pulled out all the stops. Instead of running the little 283 V8 that powered countless Novas, Malibus and Pickups-they took the 327 Corvette block and put a 283 crank in it making it 302 inches. It also had 11:1 compression, a hot solid-lifter cam, Corvette "Fuelie" heads, an aluminum intake and a 780 Holley carb. It was rated at a ridiculously low 290 hp. The buff magazines figured its true output was closer to 350 hp, and that race versions were putting out 460-470 hp. SCCA rules said you had to sell at least 500 to the public to race them. Exactly 602 were sold in 1967 making them legal. The brass couldn't think of a catchy name so they just used the option code-rpo Z/28. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue kicked ass. Winning a lot of races in '67 and the championship in '68. Ford fired back with the "Boss 302" a Mustang with Tunnel-Port 351 "Cleveland" heads on a 302 block. Parnelli Jones and others gave Donohue a helluva run. The competition was fierce and the races were more popular than ever. 1969 was the best sales year to date-of the 200,000+ Camaros sold that year nearly 20,000 were Z/28s. The F-bodies were completely redesigned for 1970-this bodystyle would last until 1981. Since the SCCA changed the rules and now allowed destroking-Chrysler got back into the fray with the new Challenger and 'Cuda by destroking the 340 V8 and Pontiac de-stroked a 400 to build a 303. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue were now racing AMC Javelins with a 304 inch V8. The 1970 production Z/28 now had a 350 V8 with all the 'Vette goodies on it and it was rated at 360 hp in the Z/28 and 370 in the Corvette.  The extra cubes really improved torque and drivability. For the first time an automatic transmission and air conditioning were offered. In 1971 GM lowered compression ratios across the board so cars could run on low-lead gas. This lowered hp to 330. Donohue and AMC won the Championship in a Javelin-but by '71 Ford and GM both had pulled the major factory support so it was kind of a hollow victory-a factory backed team beating a bunch of privateers. In '72 nothing really changed-except a UAW strike at the Norwood, Ohio plant that built Camaros and Firebirds nearly killed the breed. Very few were sold, and 1100 cars that couldn't meet the stiffer 1973 5-mph bumper standards had to be scrapped. GM actually considered killing the F-body line. Only the efforts of Herb Adams and others at Pontiac kept them alive. It was a good decision Trans Ams sales quadrupled that year and Chevy sold nearly 12,000 Z/28's in '73-the best year since 1969. However-the solid-lifter cam was replaced with a hydraulic one, and the aluminum manifold ad 780 Holley was replaced by an iron one with a Quadrajet. For some insane reason-in late 1974 Chevrolet killed the Z/28 option. AMC Killed the Javelin, Ford turned the Mustang into a re-badged Pinto / Capri and Chrysler killed the 'Cuda and Challenger, and Road Runner and Charger for '75. The 454 was longer available in a Corvette-a 350 was the biggest motor you could get and you couldn't even get a 4-speed in California!  Gee, wonder why Pontiac Trans-Am  sales were skyrocketing-they sold nearly 50,000 in 1976-and that was before "Smokey and the Bandit"-that film was released in June 1977. Realizing the error of their ways Chevy brought back the Z/28 in March 1977 after a 2 1/2 year hiatus. Power was an L48 350, but you got a 4-speed with 3.73:1 gears or an automatic with 3.42:1s and sport suspension and graphics that copied the T/A. They were good performers for the time-0-60 times in the 7 second range and 1/4 mile times in the mid 15s. I know a V6 Honda Accord is faster than that now-but these were the darkest days-The advent of Catalytic converters and ever-tightening emission standards killed everyone's performance for several years. '78 and '79 were record sales years. Obviously-if youw wanted a musclecar then-you had two choices-a Trans-Am or a Z/28. "Cowl Induction" was brought back for 1980-a vacuum-operated hood scoop that opened under full-throttle acceleration. It didn't really help performance, but man did it sound cool. In '81-things got worse-you could only get a 350 with an automatic. If you wanted a 4-speed-you got a 305 that wheezed out 145 hp. In 1982 the F-bodies were completely redesigned and this body would last until 1992. The top engine option was a "Cross-Fire" injected 305 with 165 hp,that was only available with a 3-speed automatic. If you wanted a 4-speed you got the 145 hp carburated 305. Yuk. In 1983 things started to get better. The L69 305 "H.O." was introduced that had 190 hp and you could get a 5-speed stick or a 4-speed automatic with it. In 1985 "Tuned Port Injection was introduced and bumped power to 215 hp. As a homage to the "International Race of Champions" race series the "IROC-Z" was introduced.  However-Ford had put the 302 back in the Mustang-with real tube headers and a 600 Holley on an aluminum manifold. The Mustang was not only faster-but several thousand dollars cheaper. In late '86-Chevy stuffed the L98 'Vette 350 into the IROC-Z-but only with an automatic-and they still weren't as fast as a Mustang-that now had even more power with their fuelie 302. The line soldiered on until the big redesign of 1993, that lasted until the demise in 2002. The LT1 and LS1 engines brought great performance in the '90's-but GM priced them into oblivion. A loaded Z/28 was $37,000 in 2002 dollars!!  More than a BMW 3 series, more than a Mercedes C-class, and more than a Lexus IS300!! For a car with a ten year old body, a laughable rear seat, poor visiblity, high insurance rates and 15 mpg fuel economy. Why were 40 year olds-who could afford them buying the luxury / Sport sedans I mentioned instead of Camaros? Because they weren't 17 anymore, and needed to accomodate their wife and kids!  Car and Driver said it best-"This car is absolutely coveted by people who can't afford it." ( Young males under 25.). Ford was selling twice as many Mustangs as GM was Camaros and Firebirds combined. For a good reason-a well-equipped V8 Mustang GT stickered for about 25K-a full ten grand less than a Z/28 or T/A. That's about 300 bucks a month difference in the payment!! Gee, you think that might have made people buy Mustangs??  GM killed them at the end of 2002. The Camaro was resurrected in 2009-with a 300 hp V6 model priced at 22K a screaming bargain. For some reason the "Vette motored LS3 with 400 hp was called the "SS" and not "Z/28". They started about 30K. But again-GM has priced them out of the realm of people who want them. A loaded 400 hp 2014 SS is well over 40K. And guess what? A Subaru WRX that costs 27 grand will give it a helluva run in a drag race or the twisties. So will a Nissan 370Z that starts at 32k.  Yeah-the top dog with the 580 hp blower motor is a rocket and is called the ZL1. I think for 2015 there going to call it "Z/28" again.  But they cost $75,0000!!!  Does GM ever learn?  Apparently not. If I'm going to spend 75K on a sports car-I'll buy a Jaguar F-type or a Porsche Cayman or  a two or three-year old Nissan GtR or Porsche 911 or Aston Martin Vantage or a six year old Ferarri F430 or a '90's Lamborghini Countach!! Not a freakin' Camaro!  Mastermind      

Thanks for being a gearhead,Dad....Happy Father's Day!!

Father's day is Sunday and I thought I'd pay a little tribute to my Dad and all the others that caused us to love musclecars. Except for maybe Shirley Muldowney or Linda Vaughn's kids-It's almost always Dad who turns us on to cars. When I was really little my dad had a 1959 Pontiac Catalina with the Tri-Power 389. That car hooked him on Pontiacs and set the path for me and my brother. He later had a 1964 GTO. It was a 4bbl model, but it had a 4-speed and 4.33:1 gears. It was lightning fast in a drag race, but a little buzzy on the freeway!!  Then we got a 1965 Catalina Ventura. It was red with black interior and had American Racing Torq-Thrust mags on it. My mom was furious-because he traded in her beloved '58 Chevy Impala without telling her. Dad was a mechanic by trade-and he was always working on the side in our garage when he wasn't working at a car dealer. He got really good at tuning and sychronizing multi-carb setups. Word got around the local speed shops and race tracks-so he had quite a fan club. Our street was always packed with GTOs, 'Vettes,Road Runners and Super Bees, 409 Impalas, Hemi Chargers,-anything with a 3-2bbl or 2-4bbl induction system. Street Racers and Bracket Racers alike all wanted an edge-and if my old man jetted your carbs and adjusted your linkage-you definitely had an edge over someone who's car was stock or tuned by themselves or a run-of-the-mill mechanic. He also had the sports-car crowd-Porsche 911s, Datsun 240Z's, MG's and Triumphs,Austin-Healeys-even a couple of Shelby Cobra owners. Dad was good at tuning snd syncronizing SU's and Webers too. He also did motorcycle carbs too. That's how he met Dave Aldana-who was a factory-backed Honda motorcycle racer. Dave's battles at the San Jose mile with Gary Scott and Kenny Roberts were legendary. The neighbors must have hated us. Any weekend it looked like a car show was going on on our street. Like I said in an earlier post-I didn't think it was odd that people like Dave and Gary or Dino Fry or some other racing celebrity was hanging in our garage. I read magazine tech articles religiously-and helped my dad work. My mom always says I could swap valve springs in a small-block Chevy cylinder head before I could ride a two-wheel bike. My little brother's first words weren't "Mama" or "Dada" I think they were "Wace Caw". ( "Race Car" ). I got to hang with these guys-and "The Kid" ( me ) carried a repected opinion. When I was about 11 a neighbor who was always screwing with his car, messing it up and wanting my dad to fix it-asked dad to set the firing order on his Chevy Impala one day. Dad tells me to go do it. I knew all GM V8's were 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, so I went and got the car started in about ten minutes. I guess it embarrased him, because the guy never asked my dad for help again!!  Dad got another '65 Pontiac-this one a 2+2 with a Tri-power 421 and the 8-lug wheels. By the time I was in junior high I was getting letters and articles published in Popular Hot Rodding, Hot Rod and Car Craft. By high school my dad had bought a service station and we had moved to Nevada. Nevada was adopting California's smog standard's and My dad had gotten one of the first smog liscences in Nevada. We had ever car dealer beating down our door to get cars ready for sale.  I had a smog liscence before I had a driver's liscence. My first car was a Ram Air III, 4-speed, 4.33:1 geared '69 GTO Judge. Who buys that for a 16 year old?  My awesome dad-who over-rode my mom and my uncle who was a cop. The Judge was King Kong. I smote all challengers in biblical fashion. I also lost my liscence in less than a year. About this time dad also had a 1978 400, 4-speed, WS6 Trans-Am. My mom has a great picture of the Judge, the 2+2, and the The Trans-Am all parked side by side in front of our house. Because of me-my brother's first car was a '69 GTO-although his wasn't a judge. He also carried on the fine tradition of losing his liscence in less than a year. In my 20's I also had an SS396 El Camino, a couple of Disco-era T/A's and a '71 Ventura that I swapped a 400 into after totaling one of the T/A's. My brother got into circle track racing. Through it all, dad was always there to burn the midnight oil with us fixing a motor or a clutch, or whatever, and he was usually good for bail money when we needed it!!  His big gripe when me and my brother would screw up was-"Now I have to listen to your mother about this."  Like he didn't give a shit that we'd led the police on a "Smokey and the Bandit" chase, or had a "RoadHouse" fight in a bar-no he didn't want to hear the "Wrath of Mom" which in his mind would somehow be directed at him, not us-Because-"Who raises people that do shit like that??""  I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He couldn't lecture us too much because his brothers- good old uncle Herbert and uncle Bobby would tell us storys of his antics in the '59 and how they had to come and tow him in or back him up in a fight...Good times.  Were citizens now with kids of our own. My brother's an executive with a liquor supply company that supplys all the casinos in Nevada, and I'm a Service Writer in a car dealership. My son's 20 now-and he always marvelled at how I knew when he pulling shit like I was psychic or something. Dude-do you think I lived in a monastery before I married your mother and had kids?  Anyhow-Dad just celebrated his 75th birthday and him and my brother were talking about turning my brother's old GTO into a "Judge" clone and maybe building a faux RAIV with Edelbrock heads and putting in a Richmond 5-speed. Much to mom's dismay, because that would mean the garage would be occupied for about 6 months!!  Anyhow-Happy Father's day dad-and thanks for all the things you taught me. Some of which we don't talk about or don't mom to know to this day....But I've passed the lead foot, hard fists and hard head on to your grandson-much to his mother's dismay. DNA is a wonderful thing.....Mastermind              

Some cars that never were.....That you can build from junk.....

I have a friend that owns a junkyard and we were talking about how an enterprising hot rodder could build some cool things that the factories never did, and do it relatively chaply. Here's my personal favorites. # 1. Muscle Wagons. Because of their long wheelbase and excellent weight distribution-a wagon actually makes a good drag racer. The obvious front-runners here are the 1968-72 Pontiac LeMans Wagons. Most have 400 cubes and a TH400 standard. Some 1970 and later models may have 455s. Some 1971-72 models will have the "Endura" ( Read GTO ) front bumper and scooped hood. Even if it had the chrome front end-it wouldn't be hard to put a GTO front bumper and hood onto one. How about a "Judge" wagon? # 2. A close second would be '68-72 Olds Cutlass Vista Cruiser wagons, for the same reason-a lot of them have 400 or 455 cubes standard. With the help of Year One and Phoenix Graphics it wouldn't be hard to build a "442" or even a "Hurst / Olds" wagon. You could build an SS Chevelle wagon-but it would take a greater investment-because unlike their Pontiac and Olds cousins-95% of Malibu wagons were small-block powered. You'd have to swap in a Rat. # 3. Dodge Super Bee / Plymouth Road Runner wagon. Take a 1968-70 Dodge Coronet or Plymouth Satellite wagon-if you find one it will have 383 or 440 cubes under the hood. The graphics are easy.  #2. "Off-Brand" El Caminos. Buy a basket case '68-72 El Camino,put a GTO, Cutlass, or Skylark front clip on it. GM engines are easy to swap around. How cool would a "Judge" El Camino with a 400 and a 4-speed be? Or a White and Gold 455 Olds powered "Hurst / Olds" trucklet? Or a 455 Buick powered "GSX" El Camino?   # 3. Thunderbird / Lincoln Rancheros. Same deal here. The 1977-79 Ranchero was based on the LTD II platform, which is the same as the T-Bird / MK V platform. It would be pretty easy to put a Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark V front clip onto a Ranchero. # 4. Cyclone / Cougar wagons. It would be pretty easy to put a Cyclone or Cougar front clip onto a '70-76 Mercury Montego wagon. With a 351C or a 429 / 460-these could be good sleepers.  Something to think about. Mastermind

Don't be a "Big Block" snob... Small Block Musclecars can be fun, fast and way cheaper to build or restore....

Everyone gets caught up in "Big Block" Fever-and will only consider the premium models-especially if your on a tight budget-this really limits you. A small-block car may be the only way some of us can enjoy a classic muscle machine. Here's some examples. # 1. GM "A" body. There are way more Cutlasses, Le Mans, Chevelles, and Skylarks out there from 1968-77 with 350 cubes under the hood than there are with 396, 400 or 454 or 455. The upside is they can usually be bought way cheaper than their big-block cousins, and with a little help from the aftermarket can be made to really run without a huge investment. # 2. GM "F" body. Disco-era T/A's aside-there are way more 1968-81 350 Firebirds and Camaros than there are 396, 400 and 455 versions. In fact-many '77-79 base model, Esprit and Formula Firebirds might have 350 Chevy or 350 Olds engines as well as Pontiacs. The potential of the small-block Chevy is unlimited. We all know that. You can buy or build SBC's with anywhere from 260-550 hp.  With the 350 Olds and Pontiac motors-with intakes, cams, headers, etc-you just accentuate what the factory did-made big torque at low rpm. You can make 350 hp and 400 lbs of torque with these engines pretty easily. That should put a 3,600 lb "F" body solidly in the 13 s.  Beyond that-you need to swap in a 400 or 455 or get nitrous. # 3. Ford Mid-Size. There are WAY more Torinos and Montegos and Mustangs and Cougars built from 1969-76 with 351W, 351C, or 351M motivation than there are 429 or 460 versions. The upside is-351W's and 351C's both have huge aftermarket support and can be made to really run without a huge investment. The 351/400M motors respond ok to basic hot rod tricks-intakes, cams, headers- but their anemic 8:1 compression and huge head ports limit them. Some guys in the "Engine Masters Challenge" have made 500+ hp with 400M's-but their so big and heavy-and the bellhousing bolt-pattern is the same-and they cost no more to buy or build-that you might as well swap in a 429 / 460. # 4.  Chrysler "B" Body. There is a bunch of 318 powered Satellites,Chargers and Coronets, as well as Plymouth Sport Furys and Dodge Monacos-which are techincally "C" bodies-but similar-built from 1968-78. 318 models make nice drivers and get decent gas mileage-but are really underpowered for serious performance work in these big cars. A 360 is a bolt in swap-and Mopar Performance and other people make stroker kits to turn a 360 into a 408. Blueprint engines sells a "Turn-Key" 408 stroker with 375 hp and 460 lbs of torque and a 3 year / 30,000 mile warranty. That should help live out your "Elwood Blues" fantasies pretty good.  # 5. Chrysler "E" body. We all know there are way more 318 Barracudas and Challengers built from 1970-74 than there were big-block models. 318 models can run surprisingly well with basic hot rod tricks-intakes, headers,cams etc- or the 360 or 360 based strokers are a bolt-in. Junkyards are full of Dodge Trucks and Jeep Cherokees with 1992 and later "Magnum" engines-both 318 and 360 cubes-obviously the 360s are more desirable-but "Magnum" heads breathe better than many aftermarket ones, and Edelbrock sells Performer and Performer "RPM" intakes with a "Magnum" bolt pattern. More than enough power to live out your "Kowalski" fantasies. # 6. Short bed 1/2 ton pickups. Millions of short-bed, 1/2 ton, 2wd pickups were built during the late '70's and because of loopholes about GVW-"Gross Vehicle Weight" nearly all of them ( Except California models ) had Catalyst-free pipes until 1978. 350 Chevys and 360 Dodges have great potential. 360 and 390 Fords have the double-whammy of no power and crappy gas mileage-as do the 351 / 400M versions. But their all cheaper than the 440, 454 or 460 relatives. And with aftermarket help-heads,cams,intakes, etc-a "Muscle Truck" can be a fun sleeper. # 7. 1968-79 Chevy El Camino / Ford Ranchero. These Car / Truck hybrids have their own "cult" following. Again-there's way more more 350 and 351W, 351C and 351M versions out there than there are 390,396,429,454 or 460 versions. With any kind of power infusion-your main problem is wheelspin.  Mastermind        

STOP!!!! With what's "Correct" or Original!!...For the common good....

I hate to be such a cynical, miserable, sarcastic bastard all the time, but people drive me to it. Got an email from a guy who wants to buy one of the five 1970-71 BFG "Tirebirds". If you don't know-when B.F. Goodrich introduced the Radial T/A-they also sponsored some Pontiac Trans-Ams to run in the SCCA Trans-Am series. Jerry Titus and Milt Minter won a few races in them. I've touched on it before-the cubic inch limit in T/A racing was 305 inches. When it started in the mid '60s-Ford ran Mustangs and Chrysler ran Barracudas-the 289 Ford V8 and 273 Mopar did nicely. Then Chevrolet upped the ante with the Z/28. They took a 327 block and put a 283 crank in it and made a 302-with all the goodies-Corvette "Fuelie" heads,11:1 compression solid-lifter cam, etc-Mark Donohue and Roger Penske won the title in a Camaro. Which caused Ford to counter with the "Boss 302". Herb Adams and other Pontiac engineers wanted to play-and since SCCA rules allowed de-stroking-they built a 303 inch Pontiac engine with "Tunnel-Port" heads like Ford was working on. In testing they found the small engine ran better with production heads, so that's the way they went. But the 303 Pontiacs had a lot of expensive one-off parts in them, and they blew up a lot. And after DeLorean got promoted-( He allowed Adams and others a lot of slack when it came to racing and "back-door" stuff ) the factory support dried up. The SCCA ruled that since Canadian Firebirds had Chevy engines, it was legal for privateers and others to run the much more plentiful and more reliable 302 Chevy engines in Firebirds. So the races that Titus and Minter won were done with Chevy engines!  Anyhow-this guys question was what would be more "Correct"-should he try to find a 303 Pontiac-which would be IMPOSSIBLE. The last "Real" Pontiac V8 was produced in November 1977. They stockpiled a bunch of 400's for '78 and 79 Trans-Ams. The 303 program was killed in 1969 when Delorean left. That's 45 years ago. Herb Adams and the other engineers are long retired-and the tooling is long gone. And 45 years ago they had a lot of one-off, custom parts-they de-stroked a 400 Pontiac to 303 inches. Moldex and Hank the Crank made custom 2.84 inch stroke cranks to go into the 400 blocks and they had custom connecting rods that were longer than 7 inches and custom pistons-standard Pontiac Rods are 6.625 inches. They had RAIV heads-which are exceptionally rare and prized-Edelbrocks are exact replicas-but their not "original". So even if he had Donald Trumps bank account-the chance of getting a running, 303 Pontiac at any price-is nil. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning. Then he asks-should he try to find a "DZ" code 302 Chevy?  My response-and I don't think I'm being an asshole here-was put a crate 350 Chevy in it and have fun at track days or vintage car races. Or if your super-anal and "Gotta Have" a 302 Chevy-GMPP sells "Bowtie" Blocks with a 4 inch bore and 3 inch storke cranks, so you could build a 302 Chevy if you wanted to. But it's not going to have 1969 date codes!!  How do you restore a non-production race car to absolute "Originality?" Think about it-this car started life as a 1970 Trans-Am. The original engine was an RAIII 400. However-the cubic inch limit in the racing class was 305. So the "Original" "Just as it left the factory" shit is out.  How do we know with absolute certainty-what this 44 year old race car-was originally equipped with? Was it initially built with a 303 Pontiac and had a Chevy engine swapped in it later? Or was it built with a Chevy from the start?  Who gives a f%$k? No one keeps records of vin numbers or how many engines a race car has had!!!  Enjoy it or don't, but stop agonizing over this non-issue!!!  For example-Richard Pettys legendary '74 Charger initially had a 426 Hemi in it. Then when the big-blocks were outlawed-they went to a 360. However-the last "Factory" Hemi Charger was built in 1971. So if someone wanted to restore Petty's Charger-should it have a 426 Hemi in it or should it have a 360 in it?  The same with Fords. Ford built two Boss 429 Cougars-one for "Dyno Don Nicholson" and one for "Fast Eddie" Schartmann. Like with the Boss 429 Mustangs- they started life as 428 models and were sent to Kar Kraft for the "Boss" conversion. However- since these cars were never sold to the public-they were race cars from the start-if someone bought it and wanted to restore it-should he put a 428 in it or a Boss 429?  Dyno Don Nicholson ran a Boss 429 Maverick in Pro Stock in the early '70's. We all know Ford never made a Boss Nine Maverick. So how would one restore that?  First off-Old race cars are money pits!!  Secondly-they were RACE CARS!!!  There's nothing "Original" on them from day one!!  If you can afford to play with one, enjoy it, but don't agonize on it not being "Original".  Mastermind